Hadar Aviram

Thomas Miller '73 Professor of Law

Office: 320-333
Email: aviramh@uclawsf.edu
Phone: (415) 581-8890

Bio

Professor Hadar Aviram specializes in criminal justice, civil rights, law and politics, and social movements, and her research employs socio-legal perspectives and methodologies. She is the author of four award-winning books, the latest of which, FESTER (UC Press, 2024), examines the COVID-19 disaster in California’s correctional facilities. Prof. Aviram publishes, teaches, and speaks on domestic violence, behavioral perspectives on prosecutorial and defense behavior, unconventional family units, animal rights, elder abuse, public trust in the police, correctional policy and budgeting, violence reduction, parole hearings and conditions, the death penalty, theoretical trends in crime and punishment, and the history of female crime and punishment. She is currently expanding her expertise to Jewish Studies and Rabbinics and is working on a book-length project about the biblical carceral experience.

A former President of the Western Society of Criminology, Trustee of the Law and Society Association, and Book Review Editor of the Law & Society Review, Prof. Aviram is one of the leading voices in the state and nationwide on incarceration policy and scale and a frequent media commentator and analyst on politics, immigration, and criminal justice policy. Prof. Aviram’s extensive pro-bono work includes landmark cases involving prison and jail conditions and expertise as a consultant in activist defense. She is a member of the California and Israel Bars. Her pro-bono work earned her the Founders Award from the Western Society of Criminology, which is awarded for significant improvements to the quality of justice.

Prof. Aviram holds LL.B. and M.A. (criminology) degrees from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from UC Berkeley, where she studied as a Fulbright Fellow and a Regents Intern. She is also a graduate student of Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union and studying for rabbinical ordination. Prior to joining the Hastings faculty in 2007, she practiced as a military defense attorney in Israel and taught at Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities.

Education

University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy 2005
The Hebrew University
M.A., Criminology 2001
The Hebrew University
LL.B., Law

Accomplishments

Chancellor's Dissertation Award
Awarded by the University of California, Berkeley. 2004
Graduate Assembly Research Award
Awarded by the University of California at Berkeley. 2003
Herman Goode Award for Outstanding Student of Criminology
Awarded by Hebrew University. 2001
CHOICE Award for Outstanding Academic Title
Awarded to Cheap on Crime by the Academic Library Association 2015
Rector's Award for Outstanding Graduate Student
Awarded by Hebrew University. 2016
1066 Foundation Scholarship Award
Awarded by UC Law SF for Scholarship and Research 2010
Rutter Award for Teaching Excellence
Awarded by UC Law SF 2010